If you’re in the market for a new car this year, you’ve probably got it narrowed down to a chosen few, based on your specific criteria. Usually, new car buyers do their narrowing down by price, color, style, type, safety specifications, etc. But have you considered buying a car based on how well it [...]
Now that the summer is here, you’re likely to have more and more guests coming to your home - for barbecues, pool parties, or just to hang out. When you’ve got a houseful of people on the way over, you probably do the requisite cleaning, which includes putting away your valuables. You’d never ever leave [...]
Your first instinctive response to seeing a car accident that doesn’t involve you is probably a quick thank you to the Maker for sparing you followed by a prayer that the occupants of the car or cars involved are safe. But then what? Do you keep going on your merry way, shaken but secure? Or [...]
Translation: Help me! I’m drowning!
How pointy are your elbows? Can you knock someone’s eye out with them? Are they registered as deadly weapons with Homeland Security? Do you think your elbow could knock a car window out, say in a water emergency? Statistics have shown that more than 10,000 individuals are in a water-related accident [...]
Hyperthermia is a medical term for a greatly increased body temperature. It is relatively rare, but can happen for a number of medical reasons, including infection, disease or injury. Unfortunately, with the summer months approaching quickly, it happens for another reason: Negligence. Stupidity. Your choice.
How many times have you done this? You’re getting ready to go on vacation so you pack all of the stuff you want to bring with you, haul it out to the car and start packing, pushing and shoving it in. Only to find - SURPRISE! - all of that stuff doesn’t fit and you [...]
Peter Packer perilously packed and piled his personal property in his purple pick-up. Pourquoi? (”Why?” for all you non-Francophiles.) Because he was a pea-brain. No one ever told him how dangerous it was to just toss the stuff into the back of the pick-up truck without securing it.
Touchdown! Goal! Or whatever it is you shout when the play goes your way. Isn’t it a great feeling when your team is winning? But it sincerely sucks when you’re on the losing side. What’s this got to do with driving you want to know? Stick around and learn.
It used to be that every single emergency kit worth its salt contained one, if not two, emergency flares - yes, those funny red tubes that reminded us of dynamite from a kiddy cartoon. But their availability is nothing to laugh about; a recent study has shown that by lighting an emergency flare at [...]
It was reported recently that the driver of a convertible in Germany lost a little bit of money when it blew out the back of the car while he was driving. Apparently, this guy decided to take an Audi convertible out for a test drive - to see if it was really as much [...]
With warmer months ahead, those lucky few with a cool convertible car will be putting the top down and hitting the open road. There are so many positive things about being in a convertible - the wind blowing through your hair, the sun on your cheeks, the feeling of flying - that everyone who [...]
Allowing a person who has been drinking to get behind the wheel of the car is something that most people will never ever permit. That impaired person is a danger to himself and others, and indeed, to you as well (or at least your pocketbook); laws on the books throughout the country place blame [...]
How pointy are your elbows? Can you knock someone’s eye out with them? Are they registered as deadly weapons with Homeland Security? Do you think your elbow could knock a car window out, say in a water emergency? Statistics have shown that more than 10,000 individuals are in a water-related accident [...]
Well, if you’ve got your air conditioning cranked up to max, that is. But summer driving can really take a toll, not only on your car, but on you. With summer and the accompanying high temperatures fast approaching, now is a great time to take a quick refresher course on how to stay [...]
Perhaps you’ve never been accused of doing it (or perhaps you’ve just never been caught, hmmm?) but a great many people are guilty of checking their email messages on their cell phone or Blackberry while they’re driving. Obviously, that’s not a safe or smart thing to do, but the temptation of just knowing is [...]
Your car’s airbag may be the only thing between you and the Pearly Gates. As a safety device, coupled with appropriately used seat belts, it’s invaluable. Fortunately, airbags are now standard equipment on most newer model cars. But, if you have an older model car, you may have bought it specifically because [...]
When you get inside your vehicle, it’s certain that you immediately buckle up, and ensure that every passenger inside is safely strapped in. It’s now become one more step in the process of driving - open the car door, fasten your seatbelt, put the key in the ignition, check your mirrors, drive. Not [...]
It’s frightening enough when you get into a fender bender by accident, but when a fender bender happens to you - intentionally - it’s usually not with someone wanting to exchange chicken a la king recipes. It happens for more nefarious reasons.
If you’re even a tiny bit uncomfortable with the situation after you’ve been “bumped” by a car from behind, you don’t have to sit still and wait for events to unfold around you. You may feel that you’re obligated - legally and morally - to stick around and exchange ownership and insurance information, but [...]
According to the U.S. State Department, carjacking is a non-political crime that can and does occur across the nation. There’s neither rhyme nor reason why a carjacker targets a specific vehicle or driver; mostly, it’s just a crime of opportunity.
To any driver, a cellular or mobile phone can be either a blessing or a curse. It’s hard to remember the days when we didn’t have 24/7 access to the rest of the world. Think back; when was the last time you passed an actual pay telephone booth? Memory fails right? [...]
No, that’s not a foreign language; it’s text message shorthand, and it’s a growing phenomenon that is taking over the world. And not always in a good way.
Food and water: The bare minimum needed for sustained life. But for sustained life (and sustained sanity!) with kids, you’ll need a bit more. Add into the basic shelter, clothing, toiletries, first aid kit, lighting source and entertainment. Now, you can set out on your merry way and not worry (too [...]
In case you’ve been living on another planet and aren’t aware, SAHM is an acronym for a stay-at-home-mom. That is a misnomer if ever there was one; SAHMs are anything but. They are on the go, all day long (and really, it’s a very very long day), and spend a great deal of [...]
You’re driving on a major highway, freeway, motorway or beltway, and you witness another vehicle get into an accident, or see them pull over into the breakdown lane with their hazard lights flashing. What is your role in their safety? Do you stop and offer assistance? In front of or behind them?
It used to be that it only happened in the “big” cities - New York, Los Angeles, Miami, etc. That is, finding a homeless person sleeping inside your car. Now, given the state of the American economy, more and more people are resorting to sleeping inside cars, and it’s not always their own [...]
“A thumb goes up, a car goes by, it’s nearly 1:00 am and here am I…” With all due respect to Vanity Fair, the musical group that sang this popular song in the early 1970’s, what were they thinking?! Whether you’re the hitchhiker or the hitchhikee, hitchhiking is one foolish thing to be doing.
Driving at night is only fun when you’re a teenager, blessed with perfect 20-20 eyesight, and cruising along the main drag looking for some form of action. As you age, your night vision continues to deteriorate, to the point where you can only see at night 10% of what you’d be able to see [...]
It’s not a .44 Magnum in front of you; it’s your first shot of tequila or your fifth mug of beer. Alcohol is a funny thing, how it affects everyone differently. Some people can drink half a dozen shots with a six-pack chaser and suffer no ill effects - no slowing of reflexes [...]
Have you ever had that horrible sinking feeling in your gut that comes the moment that you slam the car door behind you only to realize that you left your car keys in the ignition? Frantically, you try the door handle, then run around and try all of the other handles, too. But [...]
There are some people who can fall asleep in a car and there are some people who just can’t. In a perfect world, a car’s driver would fall into the latter category. Unfortunately, this isn’t a perfect world. And you don’t have to be a narcoleptic to fall asleep at the wheel; [...]
Perhaps it’s because women are so good at multi-tasking - they can talk on the cell phone, drink a diet cola, push a baby in a stroller and juggle half a dozen packages and bags all at once - that they are also the most susceptible to crimes that occur in parking lots. [...]